SSS 2010: FOR HIKARITSUBASA
For: hikaritsubasa
From: Your Secret Santa
Title: Christmas Wishes and New Years Kisses
Pairing: Onew/Jonghyun/Minho
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 7,714
Summary: In which a lonely med student makes a couple of wishes, and his life is turned upside down because of them.
College is fun; different people, different places, everything’s new and different and great. College is you growing up and getting out of your parents’ house and into the world on your own. Jinki had embraced the ideals of college, attending the school with the best science and math programs he could get into. Unfortunately, this school was a few hundred miles away from his family, and Jinki was, to put it simply, lonely.
The people he saw most of the day would soon be his competition in the workplace, so no one wanted to make friends. And he didn’t have time to go out and socialize. Being in a competitive program meant he needed to be better than everyone else; second in his high school class meant nothing here. Sure, other programs might be less competitive; Jinki had first looked at the school because of its prestigious visual arts programs, but his parents wanted him to be a doctor, and he wanted to make them proud.
It wasn’t his lack of friends that made him so lonely (well, at the moment, anyway). What was doing him in right now was that it was the day before Christmas, and he simply lived too far away to be able to see his family. He hadn’t seen them since he left for school in August, and, if he’s lucky, he won’t be able to see them until April. If he’s unlucky, June.
To lessen his loneliness, Jinki had decided to walk around the town. School was on break until the end of January and he had nothing to do anyway. He had planned to go to an all-night coffee shop and people watch, something he did with his younger brother quite a lot, except it seemed that even strangers were avoiding him. The coffee shop was closed; he should have known, it was Christmas Eve, and the town center was a winter wonder ghost town.
Jinki sighed, walking around the abandoned center, looking for something to do to distract himself from how pathetic he felt right about then. When it was summer and Jinki had had some time to kill, he wandered around the small town near his school, aimless, like tonight. He’d found a fountain on a side path one day, almost hidden in an overgrown garden. He made his way there, carefully picking his way through ice and snow laden trees. Jinki was surprised to see the water still running, and not frozen or drained like the other fountains in front of the library and the main auditorium. He walked up to it, watching the crystal clear water for a while, before looking up at the clear starry night and sighing deeply.
“Well,” he muttered, fishing a coin out of his pocket, “it is Christmas Eve.” He rubbed his thumb over the face of the coin, I wish I wasn’t so alone here, and flipped the coin in. Off in the distance, the school bell chimed. It was midnight.
“Merry Christmas,” Jinki whispered, sighing again, and watching his breath fade away. Then, a sly smile flitted onto the man’s face as he pulled out another coin. “New day, new chance for a wish.” As he flipped the coin into the water again, he shook his head, “God, I’m pathetic, huh?” and then sniffed, and turned to walk home.
He slipped on his way out of the garden on what he’ll say was a patch of ice with snow over it, and he missed the two flashes of light that emanated from the fountain.
---
Jinki woke up warm and comfortable. It was Christmas. Eventually he’d have to get up and call his family, but right now all he wanted to do was to snuggle into the warmth. He hugged his pillow tighter and nuzzled into it. Then, he frowned as it felt a lot firmer than he thought. His eyes didn’t want to open, so he didn’t bother as he slowly sat up, dragging his hands along his bed to find his original pillow, instead of the firm, but warm one.
That seemed to have really defined abs.
Jinki snapped his eyes open, and even though they were blurry from sleep and lack of glasses, he could make out the tan figure that his hand was currently resting on, that he had been snuggling up against moments before. It was definitely a person. When the thought reached his brain, he lunged for his glasses, which were next to the stranger on the bed, so he ended up falling over him and onto the floor, as he pushed his glasses onto his face.
In his bed, staring at him with an expression of curiosity and worry, was a man. A very beautiful man, with soft looking brown hair and puppy like eyes and a toned chest and arms and…and he was naked. Jinki’s eyes immediately shot up and away from the strange man in his bed, as thoughts like, “what the hell?” and “my god, he’s beautiful” filled up his brain. There was a noise from behind the stranger, a soft grunt, and the brunet man frowned in displeasure, rolling over and giving Jinki a very nice view of his girlishly slim waist and his…
A man with short black hair appeared from the other side of the bed, glaring angrily at the smaller man. The brunet twisted in the bed and pushed the taller one out, proving to the only person in the room who belonged there that the black-haired man was naked, too.
And that’s when Jinki fainted.
---
Jinki woke up to find out that the two naked boys were just some weird, lonely, sexually repressed dream he’d had. At least, he hoped so. He hadn’t opened his eyes to find out if it was true or not.
"This is all your fault," a sharp voice that wasn't his said. "Why'd you have to be here?"
"He wished for me first," a deeper, so much sexierdeeper, voice said, sounding angry. "Why’d you have to come?"
"Because I obviously have more personality than you; no one likes the night!"
Apparently, Jinki's dream was wrong. So terribly, terribly wrong.
He must have whimpered or something, because their squabbling stopped with a sharp shush, and he felt eyes on him, so he pretended that he was asleep. He forgot that he was already pretending, though, and panicked because he didn’t know what he was supposed to be doing, making it more obvious that he was awake.
“We know you’re awake,” the higher toned voice said, and Jinki felt someone lean over him. “Just open your eyes; you’re really bad at pretending.”
“Are you naked?” the ‘sleeping’ boy whispered, squeezing his eyes shut, and trying not to think about how perfect…ly uncomfortable the whole situation was.
“No, we borrowed some of your clothes,” the deeper voice said.
Debating whether or not he was lying, Jinki cracked open one eye, and saw that yes, the brunet was indeed clothed, in what looked like a giant sweatshirt and little else. Did he even own a sweatshirt that big? God, did that boy have nice legs. With a groan, he rolled over to see the other boy clad in more respectable clothing; some jeans and one of Jinki’s under shirts, showing off his obviously toned arms and upper chest area. The college student was even willing to bet his chicken that he had abs that could grate cheese, and boy did Jinki need to stay away from the internet if that’s the first comparison that pops into his head.
With little else to do, he opened his mouth and hoped that whatever poured out of it would be a competent sentence. “What? I… How? Um…God…don’t even…”
Mission: Fail.
The scantily clad, puppy-like boy nodded. “So this is why you’re lonely; you’re socially inept.”
“Do you even know what that means?" the other boy asked the puppy snidely. “Hey, so do you have any food?” Jinki just hid himself under his blankets and pointed in the direction he hoped was the kitchen. Hopefully, the taller boy would burn the apartment down and he wouldn’t have to deal with the embarrassment anymore. The puppy-boy made a noise that sounded like he was cooing and threw himself on top of Jinki, attempting to cuddle through the blankets. Jinki decided that a fire wouldn’t be fast enough.
The first few days of them being there, Jinki spent a lot of time dodging them and trying to ask where they came from, but they were always arguing, and every time he got their attention to ask questions…well, he had two absolutely gorgeous men staring at him, a significantly less gorgeous man, and all his words fell out of his head. However, Jinki had learned that the puppy boy with the hyper personality and the really nice legs was Jonghyun. He had the most amazing singing voice, and he also had a tendency to take his shirt off. The tall, dark, and sexy one was Minho; he was athletic, but liked to read. He was quiet when he wasn’t fighting with Jonghyun, and his cooking skills were amazing.
On the third day, Jinki had gotten back from shopping for food for New Year’s, which he had been planning on spending alone, but God knows how long these beautiful freaks would hang around, when he was cornered by Jonghyun.
“We should make out,” the beautiful boy said, leaning in close. Jinki quickly pushed himself further into the wall, gripping the plastic bags in his hands tightly. When did the younger boy get those clothes? It should be illegal for him to wear t-shirts that tight, or jeans that small. He looked like he’d been taking fashion tips from his brother’s dance instructor. Not that he was complaining, but he was complaining, because the clothes were making it hard to think, and Jinki needed to say something. Eventually.
When he opened his mouth he had planned to say, “Please back away from me, it’s quite hard to think when you’re this close,” but what came out was something like, “Eep.”
Jonghyun’s smile turned predatory as he cocked an eyebrow. “Is that a yes?” he whispered, licking his lips, and Jinki tried not to stare at those wet, pink lips, so he looked at the puppy-boy’s eyes, hoping to convey his desperate confusion. Except the puppy had more of a wolfish look, and if the older boy remembered correctly, you weren’t supposed to get in stare offs with wolves. So he dropped his gaze, but the only other place to look was his lips, and oh god, was he getting closer?
“Jonghyun!” Minho’s deep, smooth voice crashed over both of them as the singer was pulled away from him. Minho looked very angry, Jinki concluded, as he watched the taller boy attempt to burn the other with his glare.
“Don’t look at me like that,” the shorter boy hissed, as Jinki made a hasty retreat to the kitchen to put the food away, and probably hide. “It’s not like we’re getting anywhere, anyway.”
“Well, you won’t be,” the athlete said, smirking. “Not after that stunt.”
Jonghyun scoffed as he turned away from the youngest boy and threw himself down on the couch. “I’d say I still have a fair shot. He thinks I’m beautiful.”
Minho rolled his eyes and threw the singer’s shoe at his head. “He thinks I’m sexy. I’d say I have a better chance.”
Jinki tried to convince himself that suicide wasn’t the answer as they listed every stupid thing he’d ever said to them. Sure, he’d wished he wasn’t lonely anymore three days ago, but this must be what they meant when they said “be careful what you wish for” because he would totally rather be alone than continuously embarrassing himself.
On the fourth day, Jinki snuck out of his apartment around dawn…and by dawn, he meant ten AM. Minho went for runs around ten, getting out of bed as carefully as possible, so as to not wake them. The fact that they all slept in the same bed only made no sense at all, because there was a perfectly good pull out couch in the living room, but neither man would sleep there. Jonghyun was a sexy sack of useless flesh and bone until about noon, so after the black haired boy left, it was much easier for Jinki to play ninja and get the hell out of his apartment.
It was December twenty-eighth, still technically the holiday week, so not as many people were out and about as Jinki would have liked. It’s hard to lose yourself in a crowed when there isn’t one, but he tried, boy did he try. He sat in that little twenty-four hour coffee shop, sipping hot cocoa because, no matter how much sugar he put in coffee, it was still bitter. He watched the scant amount of people walking around the square and tried to make up stories for them, but they weren’t very entertaining because they were all lonely stories of solitary people by themselves. So he gave up and called his brother.
“Jinki-hyung?” his brother sounded breathless, but his usual cheer was still there.
“Hey, Taeminnie, how are you? Are you busy?” he asked, twirling his cocoa cup in circles, preemptively feeling bad for interrupting.
There was a pause in the line, and someone said something that Jinki didn’t catch. “Yeah, I’m at practice, but Kibum-hyung let me take a break so we can talk.” There was an angry noise on the other end and Taemin laughed.
“Oh? Tell Kibummie I said hi,” he said, attempting to not sound brotherly and concerned about how much time the dance instructor spent with his younger brother.
“Hyung~” Taemin whined, catching the tone. “It’s just Key, relax.” There was a grumble over the phone that Jinki matched, probably for a different reason. “You guys~” Taemin whined again, hoping his aegyo could not only get two people at once but translate over hundreds of miles via the phone.
“How was your Christmas?” Jinki asked, even though he totally asked on Christmas, but whatever. Maybe his younger brother wouldn’t remember.
“You asked me that question three days ago,” he could hear the small boy’s frown. “Are you okay?”
“I’m avoiding my apartment,” Jinki accidentally said. “ There’s-” then he realized what he was saying, and how insane it sounded, and no matter how open-minded Taemin was, hearing that his older brother woke up with two naked boys in his bed and has yet to kick them out probably wasn’t going to go over well. “There’s no one there,” he said, hoping that was as smooth as he wanted it to be.
“Oh, is Hyung lonely?” Great, the brat must have put him on speaker phone, because Kibum’s voice was hard to mistake. “Get a boyfriend; it’s not like you’re that unattractive.”
Jinki choked on his cocoa. “Taemin, you told him?!” he whispered, scandalized, looking around the small, practically abandoned shop, as if someone had heard them.
He heard his younger brother sigh incredulously. “Hyung,” he began.
“Don’t, Taemin,” he hissed.
“You will eventually have to tell them. The least they could do is accept you, considering you’re giving up your dream to make them happy.”
“I want to be a doctor,” he muttered, frowning down at his, now probably cold, chocolate drink.
“No, you want to be a doctor because you don’t want to let them down,” Taemin shot back. He was getting angry. He always got angry when they had this conversation. “If they can’t accept you then they don’t matter.”
“Tae, they’re our parents. Of course they matter.” There was an exasperated sigh over the phone. Right on cue, too, which meant that soon Taemin would hang up.
“What matters to you should matter to them, Jinki.” Oh, right, he’d forgotten that the dance instructor was in the room. “We’ll talk to you later, okay? Have a happy New Year if we don’t hear from you before that.”
“Yeah,” the student said, getting up to throw out his cocoa, suddenly in no mood to drink it. “Happy New Year.”
---
Jinki was determined to spend the day away from his apartment. He tried to find the wishing fountain from the other night. But no matter how hard he searched, he just couldn’t find the path that led there. He eyed the woods near where he swore he thought the path was and then shot a look back over his shoulder. No one was looking. He would have liked to think that normally he would never have randomly ran around in the woods in the winter, except that he’d done it tons of times back home with Taemin.
The woods hadn’t looked that deep when he’d first run into them. But not ten minutes into looking around the tree dense and snowy area, Jinki had tripped and fallen flat on his face. He winced as he sat up, hand cupped to his right cheek, which stung sharply. He stood up and pulled his hand away from his face, noticing a small amount of blood on his palm.
“Great,” he muttered, wiping his hand on his pants as he stomped around the woods in the general direction of where he thinks he probably came from. “I’m lost and I’m bleeding and it’s probably going to attract wolves and I’m going to be eaten. This is just my luck.”
The sky was dark when he managed to stumble out of the giant forest that had hidden itself inside the small town center. Jinki glared at the woods suspiciously, but they continued to be silent and mysterious so he trudged home, wincing as his cut cheek stung when the cold wind hit it.
His apartment was dark when he got home, and he’d hoped that maybe he’d dreamed the last three or four days and had just been passed out in the woods for a few hours. As he turned to unlock the door, however, the room was flooded with light and he closed his eyes because, no, he hadn’t been dreaming.
Jinki kicked off his shoes and slowly turned around, keeping his eyes on the ground. There was a soft growl and suddenly his head was jerked up by his chin. Minho glared angrily at him as he forcibly tilted the older boy’s head, examined the cut, and then dragged him into the kitchen.
“Sit,” the athlete commanded, shoving the eldest towards the table. Jinki sat down dejectedly, feeling like a little kid getting punished. It was stupid, because he was the oldest, and this was his apartment, and Minho and Jonghyun were just weird people who…appeared there. Damn it, he never did figure out how they ended up here. For all he knew, he got drunk and randomly picked them up and had crazy, bendy…love making…and he doesn’t even remember.
Jinki was so lost in thought he didn’t notice that Minho had come back with the first-aid kit. Jonghyun sat dejectedly in the living room, perched on the top of the couch as he watched Minho tend to the older boy. The medical student was brought back to reality by a sharp sting on his cheek. Jerking away, he looked over and pouted at the taller boy.
“Stop it; I need to clean it, stupid,” the younger muttered, placing the antiseptic back on the older man’s cut.
“Where did you go?” Jonghyun spoke up suddenly. “You were gone all day. We didn’t have any way of contacting you. We didn’t know where you were. Do you know how scared we were?!” His voice had gotten louder and shriller as his tirade went on.
Minho shot the smaller man a scathing look. “He’s right, Hyung. You can’t just take off like that; what if something happened to you?” He sighed and gently placed a band-aid over the cut, “Something worse than this?” Jinki pouted and looked down; now he just felt like a jerk.
“Sorry,” he said after a while. “I just…had to get away for a while.” Suddenly, Jonghyun was right next to him, smiling ridiculously bright. And people say I have a bright smile, Jinki thought.
“It’s okay, Hyung!” he said, hugging the older boy. “We’ll forgive you just this once.” Then he carefully kissed Jinki’s new band-aid, causing Minho to growl, and actually skipped away. “I’ll make you some cocoa!” Jinki just blinked after the flirt, then looked over at Minho, who wasn’t finished hate-staring the smaller man.
Why is this my life? the eldest boy lamented mentally, slouching in his chair as Jonghyun yelped like a wounded puppy and dropped something.
---
Jinki woke up the same way he went to sleep, smushed between the two, overly warm bodies of the boys who had attempted to smother him as punishment for sneaking out. Apparently, Minho was skipping his morning jog in favor of making sure the med student didn’t sneak off again. A set of arms were wrapped around his waist and another pair were wrapped around his upper torso. All three sets of legs were tangled together in the sheets. Jonghyun’s head was buried into the crook of his neck, singing soft, nonsense sounds. Minho had his nose pushed into the back of Jinki’s head, his breath tickling the hairs on the base of his head. This is just great, the oldest boy thought, as he tried to relax back into their grasp. Might as well go back to sleep.
When he woke again, he was significantly less squished and smothered. Blinking, he shifted around in the bed only to be pounced on the moment he made it clear he was awake. Groaning, he tried to roll away, but the person who was currently sitting on him would not have it.
“Hyung~” oh god, it’s Jonghyun. “We made you breakfast; you’re up now, so eat it!”
“What time is it?” the oldest man groaned, glaring at the puppy boy through squinted eyes.
“It’s ten-thirty,” Minho said, walking over with a large tray. “Sit up and put your glasses on, I don’t want you spilling anything.” Pouting, Jinki did as he was told. By the time he managed to find his glasses and put them on his face, only poking himself in the eyes twice, which was a new record for him, Minho had settled the tray on the bed.
“This looks delicious,” the med student exclaimed, as he began piling waffles onto his plate.
“Well, if you weren’t so impatient in the mornings and waited for me to get back, I would cook more often,” the tallest boy scolded, as he bit into an apple. The older boy pouted as he ate, his food filled cheeks making him look like a chipmunk. Minho hid his chuckle behind his hand, but Jonghyun giggled outright, making Jinki pout harder.
“This is good,” Jonghyun muttered after a while, glancing quickly at Minho, then back down at his plate. They were all eating on the bed, and Jinki would dare to say that they were just enjoying each other’s presence. “Thank you.”
The athletic boy looked up from his food, his calculating gaze locked on the shorter man. “You’re welcome,” he said after a second. They continued eating in silence. Minho had cooked a lot of food. When they finished, Jinki made to get up, to help with the dishes, but Jonghyun pushed both him and Minho back down on the bed.
“I’ve got this,” he said, smirking at them as his ego showed through his eyes. Minho rolled his eyes and crawled on top of Jinki, smothering him, yet again.
“It’s illegal to keep me here, you know,” the med student muttered, as the youngest boy hugged him through the blankets. “I feel like this might be kidnapping.”
“You’re in your own home,” Minho said, shifting the blankets so he could get under them. Jinki jumped when he felt the taller boy’s hand brush against the exposed skin of his abdomen, where his shirt rode up. But Minho only tugged the shirt back down.
“You really scared us yesterday,” he said quietly. “When I got back from my run, Jonghyun was literally flipping out. He kept calling you his ‘little awkward butterfly’ and crying because he thought you were going to get kidnapped.”
Jinki pouted at the sexy man who was holding him. “I’m not awkward…or a butterfly!”
“Don’t talk about me behind my back, you jerk!” came Jjong’s voice from the kitchen area.
“You guys seem to be getting along better,” The med student said, shifting around so that he wasn’t so incredibly close to Minho, didn’t these guys understand personal space, and so that he could sit up again. “Did something happen?”
“Yesterday happened.”
Jinki looked down, tracing random patterns in his comforter. “I didn’t mean to scare you guys, or anything. I just needed to get away for a while. To clear my head.”
Minho nodded as he also sat up, but made no move to get closer. “Your head does seem to be a bit clearer,” he joked. “You’re speaking in full sentences.” The older boy blushed angrily, and got out of bed. Or tried to. The taller boy’s hand latched onto his arm like a snake.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
The med student froze, “The bathroom?”
“Be quick.”
Jinki got fed up with the short leash bullshit around dinner, when it was like the fifth time he had to ask permission to go to the bathroom, and Jonghyun had trailed after him like a wolf, watching his every move. It was creepy.
“Will you guys stop this?!” he demanded, turning around to face Jonghyun, who jumped a mile in the air at the sudden outburst. “I’m not some invalid; I can move around my apartment by myself just fine!”
“We just don’t want you to leave us again,” Jonghyun said. He looked like a kicked puppy as he bowed slightly in apology and walked back into the living room. The older boy was left feeling like a dick for the second time in as many days for just wanting some space. When he came back, he brought a chair from the kitchen. Turning off the TV, Jinki placed the chair in front of it and sat down. Now he was directly opposite from Minho and Jonghyun.
“I want answers!” probably wasn’t the best way to start the conversation, but at least he wasn’t muttering. The boys on the couch traded looks of uncertainty, before hesitantly nodding.
“I…just, how? Why…?” Jinki cut himself off, and took a deep breath while the others waited for him. “Why are you two here?”
“He asks the hard questions first, doesn’t he,” Jonghyun muttered, slumping back against the cushions. Minho took a deep breath and faced the older man.
“Hyung,” he started, then sighed again, “you wished for us.” Jinki laughed so hard he fell out of his chair, knocking his wrist into the TV, hard. With a hiss of pain, he curled into himself, cradling it.
“See!” Jonghyun exclaimed as Minho ran for the first aid kit. “This is why we can’t leave you alone!”
“Not helping,” the older boy forced out through clenched teeth. “Ice pack. Freezer. Please.” It took two minutes for Minho to get to the cabinet that held the first-aid kit and get back to Jinki’s side, and by that time the med student was fighting back tears; it hurt so much. The older boy buried his head into Minho’s side, as if to hide from the pain as Jonghyun kneeled down next to them and gently pressed the icepack against his wrist.
Taking a deep breath, the med student pulled away from the athletic boy to look at his wrist. A nice, purple bruise was already forming along the joint where wrist met thumb, and it was swollen a little. But nothing looked or felt broken. He ran his other hand over the area to be sure, but everything felt in place.
“I’m fine,” he hissed, curling back up into the warm comfort of the taller boy.
“The hell you are,” Jonghyun muttered. “You’re practically crying in pain. Minho, help get him up.”
And that’s how Jinki ended up cradled between the two of them again, his head on Jonghyun’s shoulder as Minho carefully wrapped the older boy’s wrist in an ace bandage.
“How is it that you lived by yourself for this long without killing yourself?” the shortest boy asked into Jinki’s hair.
“How is it that you guys came to be in my apartment,” Jinki shot back, “and don’t give me that ‘I wished for you’ crap.”
“It’s true, Hyung,” Minho said, and the older boy was having a hard time doubting the sincerity in his voice.
“That’s not funny anymore,” the med student scolded. “Just tell me the truth!”
“That is the truth, Jinki-hyung,” Jonghyun said, pulling back to look at him. “You tossed two coins into the well and wished you weren’t lonely anymore, right? Well, that’s us.” He then cast a glance at Minho, “This jerk is your Christmas Eve wish, and I’m your Christmas Morning wish.”
“That’s stupid,” Jinki muttered, frowning. “Why? Silly wishes like mine shouldn’t be granted…” he pulled away from the boys and started pacing. “It was stupid and selfish; I could just make friends. Wait, would my wishes being granted make it so someone else’s wishes weren’t granted?” He turned and glared at the boys on his bed like it was their fault.
Jonghyun pursed his lips and cocked his head to the side, “I don’t know how these things work. Sorry.”
The med student rolled his eyes and began to pace again, angry with himself. “That’s bullshit, wasting that…wish granting power on a stupid wish like mine. What about the people who are dying? How come their wishes couldn’t be granted?”
Minho stood up and grabbed the older man, pulling him into a tight hug. “You’re too nice for your own good,” he said, then let go and pulled the stressed out man onto the bed. “Wishes are usually granted when the wisher stands a good chance of having their life change because of it.”
“What?” Jinki asked, as he fought weakly and childishly against the two other boys as they tried to get him under the covers. “Stop it; I’m not even dressed for bed. Why do you guys always want to sleep?”
“Jinki-hyung,” Jonghyun said, grabbing the med student’s hands. “We were granted because something in your life is making you unhappy, and you can’t see it-”
“Or don’t want to see it,” Minho interrupted.
“So you haven’t changed anything,” the singer continued, shooting Minho a glare.
Jinki frowned, he’d been doing that a lot, and said, “This is all assuming you’re telling the truth and I did conjure you out of a wishing fountain, and did not, in fact, pick you up at a seedy bar I don’t remember going to.”
The two boys traded glances. “Do you forget things like that often?” Minho asked slowly. The oldest boy shook his head.
“Then you have nothing to worry about. Now go get ready for bed. Minho and I have been doing everything for you today and we’re super tired,” Jonghyun ordered.
Jinki pouted as he got up and did what he was told. “You know, I’m your hyung, you guys shouldn’t be bossing me around like this; it’s disrespectful.” They laughed at him until he left the room.
“When should we tell him?” Jonghyun asked, sobering instantly.
“Tomorrow,” Minho said, stifling a yawn. “We’ll do it tomorrow. He’s had a lot to deal with today.”
“We’re running out of time,” the shorter boy said, as they both got ready for bed.
“I know.”
---
The next day, Jinki managed to drag the two boys he apparently wished into existence out, to do the things he’d always wanted to do with the friends he’d never had. First, he dragged them to that coffee shop, where he ordered them a round of peppermint hot chocolates and herded them into the corner table near the window.
“What do you think about her?” he asked, wincing as he took a sip of his too hot cocoa, and pointed to a girl in a pink winter coat with a matching hat.
Minho blinked at her and then looked at the med student, “I didn’t think you liked girls…” The oldest boy sputtered, choking on nothing, as his eyes darted around again to see if anyone heard him again.
“Okay, I understand my brother’s…Kibum knowing, but how do you know?” he stage whispered, leaning in closer to the other boys.
“Hyung,” Jonghyun whispered back, “we’re your wishes come true.” Jinki leaned away from him, as if contemplating that answer, but his eyes gave away the fact that he was obviously struggling with the information.
“Right,” he said slowly, swirling his cocoa again. “Okay, so no more people watching. Let’s go do something else.”
“Jinki-hyung, wait!” Minho called, but the older boy had already left, moving rather swiftly for someone with his coordination. They caught up with him down the street, when the older boy had paused to catch his breath, only to look behind him and see Minho and Jonghyun following him. He panicked and pressed himself into a tree, cradling his cocoa to his chest carefully.
“Hyung,” Jonghyun groaned, when they caught him, “what are you doing?”
“I’m not supposed to be gay,” he said quietly. So quietly the other boys had to step closer to hear him better. “I’m not. My younger brother, Taemin, is gay, so who’s supposed to give our parents grandchildren if not for me? I owe them that.” It was Jonghyun and Minho’s turn to reel at news. Who would have guessed that carefree and clumsy Jinki carried that burden with him? The shorter boy reached up and gripped the oldest boy’s shoulders, rubbing gently.
“You don’t owe your parents anything, Jinki,” he said gently.
“Yes, I do,” the med student sniffed. “You don’t understand. The family name, it’s all on me now, I have to-”
“You don’t have to do anything,” the singer said, sighing.
“What’s ‘people watching’?” Minho cut in, suddenly. Jinki turned to face him, wiping at his cheeks. His eyes were watery but he hadn’t cried.
“Oh, um, it’s something me and Taemin did back home. We’d make up stories about strangers who passed us by.”
“That sounds…” the taller boy paused, “entertaining.”
Jinki instantly brightened up, making the other two boys let out sighs of relief. “Oh it is! Me and Taeminnie used to spend hours at it back at home.”
Situation neatly defused, Jonghyun asked what they were doing next, and the med student elected to walk around until an idea hit him. It was about three minutes after they ate lunch, and three minutes after the best round of people watching Jinki’s ever participated in, that he was hit with an idea.
“Ice skating!” he shouted happily, running towards the ice rink, bouncing up and down at the edge, waiting for the other boys to catch up.
“Are you sure this is a good idea, Hyung?” Jonghyun asked dubiously, eyeing the slippery play area. “With your coordination?” All it took was a pout from the oldest boy to make Minho and Jjong give in, and believe it or not, Jinki was just as stable on his feet on the ice as he was on the ground, which meant he only slipped twenty-five percent of the time they were on the ice. The older boy was determined, though. Every time he’d fall, he’d laugh and then get back up and try to chase Minho, who had taken to skating like a pro, making circles around the puppy boy and Jinki both. Jonghyun just used this as an excuse to hold onto the older boy.
“God, I’m so bruised!” the med student laughed as Minho helped him off the ice to turn their skates in a few hours later. “That was so much fun!”
“You fell like, a million times!” Jjong said, as he poked at the oldest boy’s still band-aid covered cheek. “Do you always get hurt this often?” Jinki nodded happily as he bounced on his toes. He’d never had this much fun away from home.
Minho laughed as he watched the older boy bounce around, “You’re excited.”
“What do you guys wanna do now?” the med student asked, ignoring the exasperated sigh from the smallest man.
“Aren’t you tired yet? I’m exhausted!” Jonghyun lamented, draping himself over Minho. “And hungry!”
“Oh! I know!” Jinki exclaimed, grabbing the other boys’ hands and dragging them away. “Let’s go to the norabang! We can take the bus. There’s food, and we don’t have to do anything exercise-like, and it will be fun!”
And it was. Minho and Jonghyun found out that Jinki had an amazing singing voice, and that he’d always wanted to be a music major, but he couldn’t because his parents wanted him to be a doctor and-
“You owe them, we know, Hyung,” Minho said, resting his head on the older boy’s shoulder. “Why do you keep saying that?”
Jinki swallowed the pizza he was eating and cleared his throat. “I’m the firstborn,” he said, as if that explained everything. Jonghyun poked him in the side, hard, because it totally didn’t.
“Fine,” he sighed. “My parents have always had a plan for me: go to this elementary school, this middle school, that high school, grades can’t be below a B+, because I’m too smart to get lower. I’m supposed to become a doctor and take care of them for the rest of their lives. Taemin was an oops baby, he didn’t have a plan. Taemin’s too much of a free spirit to deal with the constraints our parents would place on him if I don’t pan out to their expectations.”
“You’re not some investment, Hyung,” the tallest boy scolded, pulling away from Jinki to look at him. “You’re their child. They should respect what you want to do, not the other way around.” The older boy hummed, nodding his head, but not really listening.
Jinki practically pushed the two boys up the stairs to his apartment when they got home. He forced them to take showers, because there was no way he was sharing a bed with two, sweaty boys. He pushed them into bed and climbed in after them so that he was on the edge. Jinki figured he’d go to sleep too, so he could wake up early and do something nice for his ’wishes’ for New Years Eve.
---
Jinki snuck out of his apartment again that morning, but not to stay out the whole day. He was going shopping for tonight. Another thing he’d never done was celebrate New Year’s Eve with his friends, and not his family. So he wanted to have a good little party.
When he got back, Jonghyun and Minho were still asleep. It seemed odd; Minho usually got up ten minutes ago for his run. But as a sneaky smile spread across the eldest boy’s face, he decided not to wake them.
Sometime later, Minho was woken up as something heavy settled onto him. Groaning, the taller man carefully sat up and blinked slowly. “Hyung, what’s this?” he yawned, blinking.
“I made you breakfast!” Jinki said, gesturing to the table full of food.
“Wow,” Minho muttered, “and you didn’t burn anything. What time is it?” he asked, reaching over to gently wake Jonghyun, careful to make sure the singer didn’t knock into the tray and spill the food.
“It’s one-ish,” Jinki said, leaning backwards to see the clock. That woke Jonghyun up. Sitting up, he trained his wide panic-stricken eyes on Minho.
“Jinki-hyung made us food,” Minho informed him, his voice tight. “And he didn’t burn it, look.”
“Not this time,” the med student said, as he dug into the food. He blinked when he noticed the other boys not eating, and piled some food on their plate. “Eat, please? I’m not that bad of a cook.”
Minho offered him a weird smile and shot a glance at Jonghyun, before both took a bite. The three boys ate in silence, which was odd because usually Minho and Jonghyun would at least bicker.
After they finished, Jinki cleaned up in silence, suddenly uncomfortable. Were they mad at him? Jinki abandoned the dishes and ran for the things he had bought that morning. Minho and Jonghyun were lounging in the living room, staring intently at the TV. Creeping up on them, he plopped the two ‘Happy New Years!” hats he bought on their heads, then put on the matching one he had as well and plopped himself down between them on the couch.
“Smile!” He said, cheerfully, holding out a camera. Jonghyun and Minho angled themselves into the picture and then draped themselves all over the older man. “You guys are awfully touchy today; is everything okay?”
Jonghyun nuzzled into the older boy’s neck, “You’re really excited about this, huh?”
The med student slid out from between the boys and turned to look at them. “Yeah, why not?” he said. “Ringing in the New Year with friends is something to be excited about.” He smiled hesitantly at them. “Is something wrong?”
“No, Jinki,” Minho sighed, patting the spot between them. “Let’s watch TV or something. What’s your favorite movie?”
They passed the day like that, watching Love, Actually and other movies Jinki picked out. They snacked on the food the med student had stocked up on, and just generally hanging all over each other. Jonghyun complained about the crazy amount of romantic comedies they were watching, only to be pushed off the couch by Minho, but he still crawled back into a group hug when Jack died during Titanic.
Jinki was having the time of his life; he’d never had so much fun. Rolling off of the couch, he turned to ask if anyone wanted soda, when he noticed Minho‘s…hand was…gone. Oh my god.
“Oh my god!” he shouted, stumbling backwards in disbelieve, pointing. “Minho, your hand!”
The youngest boy glanced down, inhaling sharply as he noticed his hand fading in and out of existence. “Shit,” he muttered, clenching his eyes shut. His hand became visible again.
“What’s going on!” the oldest boy shouted, panicking. “Minho? Are you okay?”
“How much time is left?” Minho asked, shooting a glance at the clock.
“It’s ten minutes to midnight,” Jonghyun whispered, swallowing hard. “We’re so screwed.”
“What’s going on?” Jinki demanded. “Why did your hand disappear?”
“Hyung!” Minho cut in sharply. “We’re fading away.”
“You’re what?”
“We’re fading,” Jonghyun said. “Christmas wishes only have until New Year’s Eve. Then…” he trailed off.
“Then you just fade?” the older man squeaked, his heart sinking. This can’t be real. That’s not possible. They can’t just disappear. Well, they couldn’t have just appeared, either.
“You have to kiss one of us,” Minho said. “A midnight kiss on the first day of the year, and one of us can stay with you.”
Jinki blinked, eyes watering, “K-kiss?” he stuttered. “Wait, only one of you?!”
Jonghyun smiled bitterly. “Most people don’t get more than one wish,” he said.
“I don’t-I can’t chose between you two!” the older boy shouted, as a tear finally slipped from his eyes. Why was this happening to him?
“Hyung,” the tallest boy sighed softly, reaching for him.
Jinki crawled over to them and pulled the two strange and beautiful boys into a tight hug. Minho was still trying to be strong. The oldest boy could feel him biting into his lip as he tried to stop himself from crying. On the other side, he could feel Jonghyun’s tears soaking into his shirt, his sobs shaking his small body. Jinki held them for the remaining time they had with him. Minho muttered an apology into his neck before kissing it as the clock struck midnight. Jonghyun hugged him tighter, and whispered goodbye as they both faded away before his eyes.
Jinki got up and turned off the TV. He shut his blinds and turned off the lights, then crawled into their shared bed and cried himself to sleep.
---
He didn’t talk to his family for a week. Taemin threw a fit and told him that their parents had been so scared. Jinki didn’t care, though. His conversation with his parents was short. He told them that he was gay and switching into the music composition major, and hung up. He didn’t hear from them again for another week, when they left a message on his machine about how they were sorry he felt like he’d been forced into a certain way of life.
The spring semester started, and Jinki wasn’t any happier. Sure, the music track was easier, and his vocals teacher loved him, but he didn’t care. His life was just a massive black hole of loneliness ever since New Year’s.
Two weeks into the spring semester, Jinki was eating alone in the dining hall when a pair of achingly familiar boys walked up to him.
“You’re Jinki, right?” the puppy-like one asked, sitting down. “This is my boyfriend, Minho. We had a strange dream about you.” Jinki blinked at them, trying to remember to keep his mouth closed and swallow before he suffocated.
“What Jonghyun meant,” Minho said, glaring at his apparent boyfriend, “was ‘hi.’”
The older boy couldn’t believe his eyes. There was no possible way… there couldn’t be. didn’t he wish these beautiful beings into existence last Christmas? He watched them fade away before his eyes 30 days, 11 hours and 25 minutes ago, if he remembered the time correctly. “you” he squeaked out, pointing a shaking finger at the shortest boy, and then turned wide eyed at Minho, “and you” they were laughing at him, but just what in the world “.. I don’t”
“Oh~” The puppy boy cooed, smiling brightly at him, “there’s my awkward butterfly, I knew you’d be just as cute in person”
“You’re an awkward butterfly” Jinki muttered, though he couldn’t fight the smile on his face. His life has suddenly become twice as beautify and bright. Things were finally looking up.
From: Your Secret Santa
Title: Christmas Wishes and New Years Kisses
Pairing: Onew/Jonghyun/Minho
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 7,714
Summary: In which a lonely med student makes a couple of wishes, and his life is turned upside down because of them.
College is fun; different people, different places, everything’s new and different and great. College is you growing up and getting out of your parents’ house and into the world on your own. Jinki had embraced the ideals of college, attending the school with the best science and math programs he could get into. Unfortunately, this school was a few hundred miles away from his family, and Jinki was, to put it simply, lonely.
The people he saw most of the day would soon be his competition in the workplace, so no one wanted to make friends. And he didn’t have time to go out and socialize. Being in a competitive program meant he needed to be better than everyone else; second in his high school class meant nothing here. Sure, other programs might be less competitive; Jinki had first looked at the school because of its prestigious visual arts programs, but his parents wanted him to be a doctor, and he wanted to make them proud.
It wasn’t his lack of friends that made him so lonely (well, at the moment, anyway). What was doing him in right now was that it was the day before Christmas, and he simply lived too far away to be able to see his family. He hadn’t seen them since he left for school in August, and, if he’s lucky, he won’t be able to see them until April. If he’s unlucky, June.
To lessen his loneliness, Jinki had decided to walk around the town. School was on break until the end of January and he had nothing to do anyway. He had planned to go to an all-night coffee shop and people watch, something he did with his younger brother quite a lot, except it seemed that even strangers were avoiding him. The coffee shop was closed; he should have known, it was Christmas Eve, and the town center was a winter wonder ghost town.
Jinki sighed, walking around the abandoned center, looking for something to do to distract himself from how pathetic he felt right about then. When it was summer and Jinki had had some time to kill, he wandered around the small town near his school, aimless, like tonight. He’d found a fountain on a side path one day, almost hidden in an overgrown garden. He made his way there, carefully picking his way through ice and snow laden trees. Jinki was surprised to see the water still running, and not frozen or drained like the other fountains in front of the library and the main auditorium. He walked up to it, watching the crystal clear water for a while, before looking up at the clear starry night and sighing deeply.
“Well,” he muttered, fishing a coin out of his pocket, “it is Christmas Eve.” He rubbed his thumb over the face of the coin, I wish I wasn’t so alone here, and flipped the coin in. Off in the distance, the school bell chimed. It was midnight.
“Merry Christmas,” Jinki whispered, sighing again, and watching his breath fade away. Then, a sly smile flitted onto the man’s face as he pulled out another coin. “New day, new chance for a wish.” As he flipped the coin into the water again, he shook his head, “God, I’m pathetic, huh?” and then sniffed, and turned to walk home.
He slipped on his way out of the garden on what he’ll say was a patch of ice with snow over it, and he missed the two flashes of light that emanated from the fountain.
---
Jinki woke up warm and comfortable. It was Christmas. Eventually he’d have to get up and call his family, but right now all he wanted to do was to snuggle into the warmth. He hugged his pillow tighter and nuzzled into it. Then, he frowned as it felt a lot firmer than he thought. His eyes didn’t want to open, so he didn’t bother as he slowly sat up, dragging his hands along his bed to find his original pillow, instead of the firm, but warm one.
That seemed to have really defined abs.
Jinki snapped his eyes open, and even though they were blurry from sleep and lack of glasses, he could make out the tan figure that his hand was currently resting on, that he had been snuggling up against moments before. It was definitely a person. When the thought reached his brain, he lunged for his glasses, which were next to the stranger on the bed, so he ended up falling over him and onto the floor, as he pushed his glasses onto his face.
In his bed, staring at him with an expression of curiosity and worry, was a man. A very beautiful man, with soft looking brown hair and puppy like eyes and a toned chest and arms and…and he was naked. Jinki’s eyes immediately shot up and away from the strange man in his bed, as thoughts like, “what the hell?” and “my god, he’s beautiful” filled up his brain. There was a noise from behind the stranger, a soft grunt, and the brunet man frowned in displeasure, rolling over and giving Jinki a very nice view of his girlishly slim waist and his…
A man with short black hair appeared from the other side of the bed, glaring angrily at the smaller man. The brunet twisted in the bed and pushed the taller one out, proving to the only person in the room who belonged there that the black-haired man was naked, too.
And that’s when Jinki fainted.
---
Jinki woke up to find out that the two naked boys were just some weird, lonely, sexually repressed dream he’d had. At least, he hoped so. He hadn’t opened his eyes to find out if it was true or not.
"This is all your fault," a sharp voice that wasn't his said. "Why'd you have to be here?"
"He wished for me first," a deeper, so much sexierdeeper, voice said, sounding angry. "Why’d you have to come?"
"Because I obviously have more personality than you; no one likes the night!"
Apparently, Jinki's dream was wrong. So terribly, terribly wrong.
He must have whimpered or something, because their squabbling stopped with a sharp shush, and he felt eyes on him, so he pretended that he was asleep. He forgot that he was already pretending, though, and panicked because he didn’t know what he was supposed to be doing, making it more obvious that he was awake.
“We know you’re awake,” the higher toned voice said, and Jinki felt someone lean over him. “Just open your eyes; you’re really bad at pretending.”
“Are you naked?” the ‘sleeping’ boy whispered, squeezing his eyes shut, and trying not to think about how perfect…ly uncomfortable the whole situation was.
“No, we borrowed some of your clothes,” the deeper voice said.
Debating whether or not he was lying, Jinki cracked open one eye, and saw that yes, the brunet was indeed clothed, in what looked like a giant sweatshirt and little else. Did he even own a sweatshirt that big? God, did that boy have nice legs. With a groan, he rolled over to see the other boy clad in more respectable clothing; some jeans and one of Jinki’s under shirts, showing off his obviously toned arms and upper chest area. The college student was even willing to bet his chicken that he had abs that could grate cheese, and boy did Jinki need to stay away from the internet if that’s the first comparison that pops into his head.
With little else to do, he opened his mouth and hoped that whatever poured out of it would be a competent sentence. “What? I… How? Um…God…don’t even…”
Mission: Fail.
The scantily clad, puppy-like boy nodded. “So this is why you’re lonely; you’re socially inept.”
“Do you even know what that means?" the other boy asked the puppy snidely. “Hey, so do you have any food?” Jinki just hid himself under his blankets and pointed in the direction he hoped was the kitchen. Hopefully, the taller boy would burn the apartment down and he wouldn’t have to deal with the embarrassment anymore. The puppy-boy made a noise that sounded like he was cooing and threw himself on top of Jinki, attempting to cuddle through the blankets. Jinki decided that a fire wouldn’t be fast enough.
The first few days of them being there, Jinki spent a lot of time dodging them and trying to ask where they came from, but they were always arguing, and every time he got their attention to ask questions…well, he had two absolutely gorgeous men staring at him, a significantly less gorgeous man, and all his words fell out of his head. However, Jinki had learned that the puppy boy with the hyper personality and the really nice legs was Jonghyun. He had the most amazing singing voice, and he also had a tendency to take his shirt off. The tall, dark, and sexy one was Minho; he was athletic, but liked to read. He was quiet when he wasn’t fighting with Jonghyun, and his cooking skills were amazing.
On the third day, Jinki had gotten back from shopping for food for New Year’s, which he had been planning on spending alone, but God knows how long these beautiful freaks would hang around, when he was cornered by Jonghyun.
“We should make out,” the beautiful boy said, leaning in close. Jinki quickly pushed himself further into the wall, gripping the plastic bags in his hands tightly. When did the younger boy get those clothes? It should be illegal for him to wear t-shirts that tight, or jeans that small. He looked like he’d been taking fashion tips from his brother’s dance instructor. Not that he was complaining, but he was complaining, because the clothes were making it hard to think, and Jinki needed to say something. Eventually.
When he opened his mouth he had planned to say, “Please back away from me, it’s quite hard to think when you’re this close,” but what came out was something like, “Eep.”
Jonghyun’s smile turned predatory as he cocked an eyebrow. “Is that a yes?” he whispered, licking his lips, and Jinki tried not to stare at those wet, pink lips, so he looked at the puppy-boy’s eyes, hoping to convey his desperate confusion. Except the puppy had more of a wolfish look, and if the older boy remembered correctly, you weren’t supposed to get in stare offs with wolves. So he dropped his gaze, but the only other place to look was his lips, and oh god, was he getting closer?
“Jonghyun!” Minho’s deep, smooth voice crashed over both of them as the singer was pulled away from him. Minho looked very angry, Jinki concluded, as he watched the taller boy attempt to burn the other with his glare.
“Don’t look at me like that,” the shorter boy hissed, as Jinki made a hasty retreat to the kitchen to put the food away, and probably hide. “It’s not like we’re getting anywhere, anyway.”
“Well, you won’t be,” the athlete said, smirking. “Not after that stunt.”
Jonghyun scoffed as he turned away from the youngest boy and threw himself down on the couch. “I’d say I still have a fair shot. He thinks I’m beautiful.”
Minho rolled his eyes and threw the singer’s shoe at his head. “He thinks I’m sexy. I’d say I have a better chance.”
Jinki tried to convince himself that suicide wasn’t the answer as they listed every stupid thing he’d ever said to them. Sure, he’d wished he wasn’t lonely anymore three days ago, but this must be what they meant when they said “be careful what you wish for” because he would totally rather be alone than continuously embarrassing himself.
On the fourth day, Jinki snuck out of his apartment around dawn…and by dawn, he meant ten AM. Minho went for runs around ten, getting out of bed as carefully as possible, so as to not wake them. The fact that they all slept in the same bed only made no sense at all, because there was a perfectly good pull out couch in the living room, but neither man would sleep there. Jonghyun was a sexy sack of useless flesh and bone until about noon, so after the black haired boy left, it was much easier for Jinki to play ninja and get the hell out of his apartment.
It was December twenty-eighth, still technically the holiday week, so not as many people were out and about as Jinki would have liked. It’s hard to lose yourself in a crowed when there isn’t one, but he tried, boy did he try. He sat in that little twenty-four hour coffee shop, sipping hot cocoa because, no matter how much sugar he put in coffee, it was still bitter. He watched the scant amount of people walking around the square and tried to make up stories for them, but they weren’t very entertaining because they were all lonely stories of solitary people by themselves. So he gave up and called his brother.
“Jinki-hyung?” his brother sounded breathless, but his usual cheer was still there.
“Hey, Taeminnie, how are you? Are you busy?” he asked, twirling his cocoa cup in circles, preemptively feeling bad for interrupting.
There was a pause in the line, and someone said something that Jinki didn’t catch. “Yeah, I’m at practice, but Kibum-hyung let me take a break so we can talk.” There was an angry noise on the other end and Taemin laughed.
“Oh? Tell Kibummie I said hi,” he said, attempting to not sound brotherly and concerned about how much time the dance instructor spent with his younger brother.
“Hyung~” Taemin whined, catching the tone. “It’s just Key, relax.” There was a grumble over the phone that Jinki matched, probably for a different reason. “You guys~” Taemin whined again, hoping his aegyo could not only get two people at once but translate over hundreds of miles via the phone.
“How was your Christmas?” Jinki asked, even though he totally asked on Christmas, but whatever. Maybe his younger brother wouldn’t remember.
“You asked me that question three days ago,” he could hear the small boy’s frown. “Are you okay?”
“I’m avoiding my apartment,” Jinki accidentally said. “ There’s-” then he realized what he was saying, and how insane it sounded, and no matter how open-minded Taemin was, hearing that his older brother woke up with two naked boys in his bed and has yet to kick them out probably wasn’t going to go over well. “There’s no one there,” he said, hoping that was as smooth as he wanted it to be.
“Oh, is Hyung lonely?” Great, the brat must have put him on speaker phone, because Kibum’s voice was hard to mistake. “Get a boyfriend; it’s not like you’re that unattractive.”
Jinki choked on his cocoa. “Taemin, you told him?!” he whispered, scandalized, looking around the small, practically abandoned shop, as if someone had heard them.
He heard his younger brother sigh incredulously. “Hyung,” he began.
“Don’t, Taemin,” he hissed.
“You will eventually have to tell them. The least they could do is accept you, considering you’re giving up your dream to make them happy.”
“I want to be a doctor,” he muttered, frowning down at his, now probably cold, chocolate drink.
“No, you want to be a doctor because you don’t want to let them down,” Taemin shot back. He was getting angry. He always got angry when they had this conversation. “If they can’t accept you then they don’t matter.”
“Tae, they’re our parents. Of course they matter.” There was an exasperated sigh over the phone. Right on cue, too, which meant that soon Taemin would hang up.
“What matters to you should matter to them, Jinki.” Oh, right, he’d forgotten that the dance instructor was in the room. “We’ll talk to you later, okay? Have a happy New Year if we don’t hear from you before that.”
“Yeah,” the student said, getting up to throw out his cocoa, suddenly in no mood to drink it. “Happy New Year.”
---
Jinki was determined to spend the day away from his apartment. He tried to find the wishing fountain from the other night. But no matter how hard he searched, he just couldn’t find the path that led there. He eyed the woods near where he swore he thought the path was and then shot a look back over his shoulder. No one was looking. He would have liked to think that normally he would never have randomly ran around in the woods in the winter, except that he’d done it tons of times back home with Taemin.
The woods hadn’t looked that deep when he’d first run into them. But not ten minutes into looking around the tree dense and snowy area, Jinki had tripped and fallen flat on his face. He winced as he sat up, hand cupped to his right cheek, which stung sharply. He stood up and pulled his hand away from his face, noticing a small amount of blood on his palm.
“Great,” he muttered, wiping his hand on his pants as he stomped around the woods in the general direction of where he thinks he probably came from. “I’m lost and I’m bleeding and it’s probably going to attract wolves and I’m going to be eaten. This is just my luck.”
The sky was dark when he managed to stumble out of the giant forest that had hidden itself inside the small town center. Jinki glared at the woods suspiciously, but they continued to be silent and mysterious so he trudged home, wincing as his cut cheek stung when the cold wind hit it.
His apartment was dark when he got home, and he’d hoped that maybe he’d dreamed the last three or four days and had just been passed out in the woods for a few hours. As he turned to unlock the door, however, the room was flooded with light and he closed his eyes because, no, he hadn’t been dreaming.
Jinki kicked off his shoes and slowly turned around, keeping his eyes on the ground. There was a soft growl and suddenly his head was jerked up by his chin. Minho glared angrily at him as he forcibly tilted the older boy’s head, examined the cut, and then dragged him into the kitchen.
“Sit,” the athlete commanded, shoving the eldest towards the table. Jinki sat down dejectedly, feeling like a little kid getting punished. It was stupid, because he was the oldest, and this was his apartment, and Minho and Jonghyun were just weird people who…appeared there. Damn it, he never did figure out how they ended up here. For all he knew, he got drunk and randomly picked them up and had crazy, bendy…love making…and he doesn’t even remember.
Jinki was so lost in thought he didn’t notice that Minho had come back with the first-aid kit. Jonghyun sat dejectedly in the living room, perched on the top of the couch as he watched Minho tend to the older boy. The medical student was brought back to reality by a sharp sting on his cheek. Jerking away, he looked over and pouted at the taller boy.
“Stop it; I need to clean it, stupid,” the younger muttered, placing the antiseptic back on the older man’s cut.
“Where did you go?” Jonghyun spoke up suddenly. “You were gone all day. We didn’t have any way of contacting you. We didn’t know where you were. Do you know how scared we were?!” His voice had gotten louder and shriller as his tirade went on.
Minho shot the smaller man a scathing look. “He’s right, Hyung. You can’t just take off like that; what if something happened to you?” He sighed and gently placed a band-aid over the cut, “Something worse than this?” Jinki pouted and looked down; now he just felt like a jerk.
“Sorry,” he said after a while. “I just…had to get away for a while.” Suddenly, Jonghyun was right next to him, smiling ridiculously bright. And people say I have a bright smile, Jinki thought.
“It’s okay, Hyung!” he said, hugging the older boy. “We’ll forgive you just this once.” Then he carefully kissed Jinki’s new band-aid, causing Minho to growl, and actually skipped away. “I’ll make you some cocoa!” Jinki just blinked after the flirt, then looked over at Minho, who wasn’t finished hate-staring the smaller man.
Why is this my life? the eldest boy lamented mentally, slouching in his chair as Jonghyun yelped like a wounded puppy and dropped something.
---
Jinki woke up the same way he went to sleep, smushed between the two, overly warm bodies of the boys who had attempted to smother him as punishment for sneaking out. Apparently, Minho was skipping his morning jog in favor of making sure the med student didn’t sneak off again. A set of arms were wrapped around his waist and another pair were wrapped around his upper torso. All three sets of legs were tangled together in the sheets. Jonghyun’s head was buried into the crook of his neck, singing soft, nonsense sounds. Minho had his nose pushed into the back of Jinki’s head, his breath tickling the hairs on the base of his head. This is just great, the oldest boy thought, as he tried to relax back into their grasp. Might as well go back to sleep.
When he woke again, he was significantly less squished and smothered. Blinking, he shifted around in the bed only to be pounced on the moment he made it clear he was awake. Groaning, he tried to roll away, but the person who was currently sitting on him would not have it.
“Hyung~” oh god, it’s Jonghyun. “We made you breakfast; you’re up now, so eat it!”
“What time is it?” the oldest man groaned, glaring at the puppy boy through squinted eyes.
“It’s ten-thirty,” Minho said, walking over with a large tray. “Sit up and put your glasses on, I don’t want you spilling anything.” Pouting, Jinki did as he was told. By the time he managed to find his glasses and put them on his face, only poking himself in the eyes twice, which was a new record for him, Minho had settled the tray on the bed.
“This looks delicious,” the med student exclaimed, as he began piling waffles onto his plate.
“Well, if you weren’t so impatient in the mornings and waited for me to get back, I would cook more often,” the tallest boy scolded, as he bit into an apple. The older boy pouted as he ate, his food filled cheeks making him look like a chipmunk. Minho hid his chuckle behind his hand, but Jonghyun giggled outright, making Jinki pout harder.
“This is good,” Jonghyun muttered after a while, glancing quickly at Minho, then back down at his plate. They were all eating on the bed, and Jinki would dare to say that they were just enjoying each other’s presence. “Thank you.”
The athletic boy looked up from his food, his calculating gaze locked on the shorter man. “You’re welcome,” he said after a second. They continued eating in silence. Minho had cooked a lot of food. When they finished, Jinki made to get up, to help with the dishes, but Jonghyun pushed both him and Minho back down on the bed.
“I’ve got this,” he said, smirking at them as his ego showed through his eyes. Minho rolled his eyes and crawled on top of Jinki, smothering him, yet again.
“It’s illegal to keep me here, you know,” the med student muttered, as the youngest boy hugged him through the blankets. “I feel like this might be kidnapping.”
“You’re in your own home,” Minho said, shifting the blankets so he could get under them. Jinki jumped when he felt the taller boy’s hand brush against the exposed skin of his abdomen, where his shirt rode up. But Minho only tugged the shirt back down.
“You really scared us yesterday,” he said quietly. “When I got back from my run, Jonghyun was literally flipping out. He kept calling you his ‘little awkward butterfly’ and crying because he thought you were going to get kidnapped.”
Jinki pouted at the sexy man who was holding him. “I’m not awkward…or a butterfly!”
“Don’t talk about me behind my back, you jerk!” came Jjong’s voice from the kitchen area.
“You guys seem to be getting along better,” The med student said, shifting around so that he wasn’t so incredibly close to Minho, didn’t these guys understand personal space, and so that he could sit up again. “Did something happen?”
“Yesterday happened.”
Jinki looked down, tracing random patterns in his comforter. “I didn’t mean to scare you guys, or anything. I just needed to get away for a while. To clear my head.”
Minho nodded as he also sat up, but made no move to get closer. “Your head does seem to be a bit clearer,” he joked. “You’re speaking in full sentences.” The older boy blushed angrily, and got out of bed. Or tried to. The taller boy’s hand latched onto his arm like a snake.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
The med student froze, “The bathroom?”
“Be quick.”
Jinki got fed up with the short leash bullshit around dinner, when it was like the fifth time he had to ask permission to go to the bathroom, and Jonghyun had trailed after him like a wolf, watching his every move. It was creepy.
“Will you guys stop this?!” he demanded, turning around to face Jonghyun, who jumped a mile in the air at the sudden outburst. “I’m not some invalid; I can move around my apartment by myself just fine!”
“We just don’t want you to leave us again,” Jonghyun said. He looked like a kicked puppy as he bowed slightly in apology and walked back into the living room. The older boy was left feeling like a dick for the second time in as many days for just wanting some space. When he came back, he brought a chair from the kitchen. Turning off the TV, Jinki placed the chair in front of it and sat down. Now he was directly opposite from Minho and Jonghyun.
“I want answers!” probably wasn’t the best way to start the conversation, but at least he wasn’t muttering. The boys on the couch traded looks of uncertainty, before hesitantly nodding.
“I…just, how? Why…?” Jinki cut himself off, and took a deep breath while the others waited for him. “Why are you two here?”
“He asks the hard questions first, doesn’t he,” Jonghyun muttered, slumping back against the cushions. Minho took a deep breath and faced the older man.
“Hyung,” he started, then sighed again, “you wished for us.” Jinki laughed so hard he fell out of his chair, knocking his wrist into the TV, hard. With a hiss of pain, he curled into himself, cradling it.
“See!” Jonghyun exclaimed as Minho ran for the first aid kit. “This is why we can’t leave you alone!”
“Not helping,” the older boy forced out through clenched teeth. “Ice pack. Freezer. Please.” It took two minutes for Minho to get to the cabinet that held the first-aid kit and get back to Jinki’s side, and by that time the med student was fighting back tears; it hurt so much. The older boy buried his head into Minho’s side, as if to hide from the pain as Jonghyun kneeled down next to them and gently pressed the icepack against his wrist.
Taking a deep breath, the med student pulled away from the athletic boy to look at his wrist. A nice, purple bruise was already forming along the joint where wrist met thumb, and it was swollen a little. But nothing looked or felt broken. He ran his other hand over the area to be sure, but everything felt in place.
“I’m fine,” he hissed, curling back up into the warm comfort of the taller boy.
“The hell you are,” Jonghyun muttered. “You’re practically crying in pain. Minho, help get him up.”
And that’s how Jinki ended up cradled between the two of them again, his head on Jonghyun’s shoulder as Minho carefully wrapped the older boy’s wrist in an ace bandage.
“How is it that you lived by yourself for this long without killing yourself?” the shortest boy asked into Jinki’s hair.
“How is it that you guys came to be in my apartment,” Jinki shot back, “and don’t give me that ‘I wished for you’ crap.”
“It’s true, Hyung,” Minho said, and the older boy was having a hard time doubting the sincerity in his voice.
“That’s not funny anymore,” the med student scolded. “Just tell me the truth!”
“That is the truth, Jinki-hyung,” Jonghyun said, pulling back to look at him. “You tossed two coins into the well and wished you weren’t lonely anymore, right? Well, that’s us.” He then cast a glance at Minho, “This jerk is your Christmas Eve wish, and I’m your Christmas Morning wish.”
“That’s stupid,” Jinki muttered, frowning. “Why? Silly wishes like mine shouldn’t be granted…” he pulled away from the boys and started pacing. “It was stupid and selfish; I could just make friends. Wait, would my wishes being granted make it so someone else’s wishes weren’t granted?” He turned and glared at the boys on his bed like it was their fault.
Jonghyun pursed his lips and cocked his head to the side, “I don’t know how these things work. Sorry.”
The med student rolled his eyes and began to pace again, angry with himself. “That’s bullshit, wasting that…wish granting power on a stupid wish like mine. What about the people who are dying? How come their wishes couldn’t be granted?”
Minho stood up and grabbed the older man, pulling him into a tight hug. “You’re too nice for your own good,” he said, then let go and pulled the stressed out man onto the bed. “Wishes are usually granted when the wisher stands a good chance of having their life change because of it.”
“What?” Jinki asked, as he fought weakly and childishly against the two other boys as they tried to get him under the covers. “Stop it; I’m not even dressed for bed. Why do you guys always want to sleep?”
“Jinki-hyung,” Jonghyun said, grabbing the med student’s hands. “We were granted because something in your life is making you unhappy, and you can’t see it-”
“Or don’t want to see it,” Minho interrupted.
“So you haven’t changed anything,” the singer continued, shooting Minho a glare.
Jinki frowned, he’d been doing that a lot, and said, “This is all assuming you’re telling the truth and I did conjure you out of a wishing fountain, and did not, in fact, pick you up at a seedy bar I don’t remember going to.”
The two boys traded glances. “Do you forget things like that often?” Minho asked slowly. The oldest boy shook his head.
“Then you have nothing to worry about. Now go get ready for bed. Minho and I have been doing everything for you today and we’re super tired,” Jonghyun ordered.
Jinki pouted as he got up and did what he was told. “You know, I’m your hyung, you guys shouldn’t be bossing me around like this; it’s disrespectful.” They laughed at him until he left the room.
“When should we tell him?” Jonghyun asked, sobering instantly.
“Tomorrow,” Minho said, stifling a yawn. “We’ll do it tomorrow. He’s had a lot to deal with today.”
“We’re running out of time,” the shorter boy said, as they both got ready for bed.
“I know.”
---
The next day, Jinki managed to drag the two boys he apparently wished into existence out, to do the things he’d always wanted to do with the friends he’d never had. First, he dragged them to that coffee shop, where he ordered them a round of peppermint hot chocolates and herded them into the corner table near the window.
“What do you think about her?” he asked, wincing as he took a sip of his too hot cocoa, and pointed to a girl in a pink winter coat with a matching hat.
Minho blinked at her and then looked at the med student, “I didn’t think you liked girls…” The oldest boy sputtered, choking on nothing, as his eyes darted around again to see if anyone heard him again.
“Okay, I understand my brother’s…Kibum knowing, but how do you know?” he stage whispered, leaning in closer to the other boys.
“Hyung,” Jonghyun whispered back, “we’re your wishes come true.” Jinki leaned away from him, as if contemplating that answer, but his eyes gave away the fact that he was obviously struggling with the information.
“Right,” he said slowly, swirling his cocoa again. “Okay, so no more people watching. Let’s go do something else.”
“Jinki-hyung, wait!” Minho called, but the older boy had already left, moving rather swiftly for someone with his coordination. They caught up with him down the street, when the older boy had paused to catch his breath, only to look behind him and see Minho and Jonghyun following him. He panicked and pressed himself into a tree, cradling his cocoa to his chest carefully.
“Hyung,” Jonghyun groaned, when they caught him, “what are you doing?”
“I’m not supposed to be gay,” he said quietly. So quietly the other boys had to step closer to hear him better. “I’m not. My younger brother, Taemin, is gay, so who’s supposed to give our parents grandchildren if not for me? I owe them that.” It was Jonghyun and Minho’s turn to reel at news. Who would have guessed that carefree and clumsy Jinki carried that burden with him? The shorter boy reached up and gripped the oldest boy’s shoulders, rubbing gently.
“You don’t owe your parents anything, Jinki,” he said gently.
“Yes, I do,” the med student sniffed. “You don’t understand. The family name, it’s all on me now, I have to-”
“You don’t have to do anything,” the singer said, sighing.
“What’s ‘people watching’?” Minho cut in, suddenly. Jinki turned to face him, wiping at his cheeks. His eyes were watery but he hadn’t cried.
“Oh, um, it’s something me and Taemin did back home. We’d make up stories about strangers who passed us by.”
“That sounds…” the taller boy paused, “entertaining.”
Jinki instantly brightened up, making the other two boys let out sighs of relief. “Oh it is! Me and Taeminnie used to spend hours at it back at home.”
Situation neatly defused, Jonghyun asked what they were doing next, and the med student elected to walk around until an idea hit him. It was about three minutes after they ate lunch, and three minutes after the best round of people watching Jinki’s ever participated in, that he was hit with an idea.
“Ice skating!” he shouted happily, running towards the ice rink, bouncing up and down at the edge, waiting for the other boys to catch up.
“Are you sure this is a good idea, Hyung?” Jonghyun asked dubiously, eyeing the slippery play area. “With your coordination?” All it took was a pout from the oldest boy to make Minho and Jjong give in, and believe it or not, Jinki was just as stable on his feet on the ice as he was on the ground, which meant he only slipped twenty-five percent of the time they were on the ice. The older boy was determined, though. Every time he’d fall, he’d laugh and then get back up and try to chase Minho, who had taken to skating like a pro, making circles around the puppy boy and Jinki both. Jonghyun just used this as an excuse to hold onto the older boy.
“God, I’m so bruised!” the med student laughed as Minho helped him off the ice to turn their skates in a few hours later. “That was so much fun!”
“You fell like, a million times!” Jjong said, as he poked at the oldest boy’s still band-aid covered cheek. “Do you always get hurt this often?” Jinki nodded happily as he bounced on his toes. He’d never had this much fun away from home.
Minho laughed as he watched the older boy bounce around, “You’re excited.”
“What do you guys wanna do now?” the med student asked, ignoring the exasperated sigh from the smallest man.
“Aren’t you tired yet? I’m exhausted!” Jonghyun lamented, draping himself over Minho. “And hungry!”
“Oh! I know!” Jinki exclaimed, grabbing the other boys’ hands and dragging them away. “Let’s go to the norabang! We can take the bus. There’s food, and we don’t have to do anything exercise-like, and it will be fun!”
And it was. Minho and Jonghyun found out that Jinki had an amazing singing voice, and that he’d always wanted to be a music major, but he couldn’t because his parents wanted him to be a doctor and-
“You owe them, we know, Hyung,” Minho said, resting his head on the older boy’s shoulder. “Why do you keep saying that?”
Jinki swallowed the pizza he was eating and cleared his throat. “I’m the firstborn,” he said, as if that explained everything. Jonghyun poked him in the side, hard, because it totally didn’t.
“Fine,” he sighed. “My parents have always had a plan for me: go to this elementary school, this middle school, that high school, grades can’t be below a B+, because I’m too smart to get lower. I’m supposed to become a doctor and take care of them for the rest of their lives. Taemin was an oops baby, he didn’t have a plan. Taemin’s too much of a free spirit to deal with the constraints our parents would place on him if I don’t pan out to their expectations.”
“You’re not some investment, Hyung,” the tallest boy scolded, pulling away from Jinki to look at him. “You’re their child. They should respect what you want to do, not the other way around.” The older boy hummed, nodding his head, but not really listening.
Jinki practically pushed the two boys up the stairs to his apartment when they got home. He forced them to take showers, because there was no way he was sharing a bed with two, sweaty boys. He pushed them into bed and climbed in after them so that he was on the edge. Jinki figured he’d go to sleep too, so he could wake up early and do something nice for his ’wishes’ for New Years Eve.
---
Jinki snuck out of his apartment again that morning, but not to stay out the whole day. He was going shopping for tonight. Another thing he’d never done was celebrate New Year’s Eve with his friends, and not his family. So he wanted to have a good little party.
When he got back, Jonghyun and Minho were still asleep. It seemed odd; Minho usually got up ten minutes ago for his run. But as a sneaky smile spread across the eldest boy’s face, he decided not to wake them.
Sometime later, Minho was woken up as something heavy settled onto him. Groaning, the taller man carefully sat up and blinked slowly. “Hyung, what’s this?” he yawned, blinking.
“I made you breakfast!” Jinki said, gesturing to the table full of food.
“Wow,” Minho muttered, “and you didn’t burn anything. What time is it?” he asked, reaching over to gently wake Jonghyun, careful to make sure the singer didn’t knock into the tray and spill the food.
“It’s one-ish,” Jinki said, leaning backwards to see the clock. That woke Jonghyun up. Sitting up, he trained his wide panic-stricken eyes on Minho.
“Jinki-hyung made us food,” Minho informed him, his voice tight. “And he didn’t burn it, look.”
“Not this time,” the med student said, as he dug into the food. He blinked when he noticed the other boys not eating, and piled some food on their plate. “Eat, please? I’m not that bad of a cook.”
Minho offered him a weird smile and shot a glance at Jonghyun, before both took a bite. The three boys ate in silence, which was odd because usually Minho and Jonghyun would at least bicker.
After they finished, Jinki cleaned up in silence, suddenly uncomfortable. Were they mad at him? Jinki abandoned the dishes and ran for the things he had bought that morning. Minho and Jonghyun were lounging in the living room, staring intently at the TV. Creeping up on them, he plopped the two ‘Happy New Years!” hats he bought on their heads, then put on the matching one he had as well and plopped himself down between them on the couch.
“Smile!” He said, cheerfully, holding out a camera. Jonghyun and Minho angled themselves into the picture and then draped themselves all over the older man. “You guys are awfully touchy today; is everything okay?”
Jonghyun nuzzled into the older boy’s neck, “You’re really excited about this, huh?”
The med student slid out from between the boys and turned to look at them. “Yeah, why not?” he said. “Ringing in the New Year with friends is something to be excited about.” He smiled hesitantly at them. “Is something wrong?”
“No, Jinki,” Minho sighed, patting the spot between them. “Let’s watch TV or something. What’s your favorite movie?”
They passed the day like that, watching Love, Actually and other movies Jinki picked out. They snacked on the food the med student had stocked up on, and just generally hanging all over each other. Jonghyun complained about the crazy amount of romantic comedies they were watching, only to be pushed off the couch by Minho, but he still crawled back into a group hug when Jack died during Titanic.
Jinki was having the time of his life; he’d never had so much fun. Rolling off of the couch, he turned to ask if anyone wanted soda, when he noticed Minho‘s…hand was…gone. Oh my god.
“Oh my god!” he shouted, stumbling backwards in disbelieve, pointing. “Minho, your hand!”
The youngest boy glanced down, inhaling sharply as he noticed his hand fading in and out of existence. “Shit,” he muttered, clenching his eyes shut. His hand became visible again.
“What’s going on!” the oldest boy shouted, panicking. “Minho? Are you okay?”
“How much time is left?” Minho asked, shooting a glance at the clock.
“It’s ten minutes to midnight,” Jonghyun whispered, swallowing hard. “We’re so screwed.”
“What’s going on?” Jinki demanded. “Why did your hand disappear?”
“Hyung!” Minho cut in sharply. “We’re fading away.”
“You’re what?”
“We’re fading,” Jonghyun said. “Christmas wishes only have until New Year’s Eve. Then…” he trailed off.
“Then you just fade?” the older man squeaked, his heart sinking. This can’t be real. That’s not possible. They can’t just disappear. Well, they couldn’t have just appeared, either.
“You have to kiss one of us,” Minho said. “A midnight kiss on the first day of the year, and one of us can stay with you.”
Jinki blinked, eyes watering, “K-kiss?” he stuttered. “Wait, only one of you?!”
Jonghyun smiled bitterly. “Most people don’t get more than one wish,” he said.
“I don’t-I can’t chose between you two!” the older boy shouted, as a tear finally slipped from his eyes. Why was this happening to him?
“Hyung,” the tallest boy sighed softly, reaching for him.
Jinki crawled over to them and pulled the two strange and beautiful boys into a tight hug. Minho was still trying to be strong. The oldest boy could feel him biting into his lip as he tried to stop himself from crying. On the other side, he could feel Jonghyun’s tears soaking into his shirt, his sobs shaking his small body. Jinki held them for the remaining time they had with him. Minho muttered an apology into his neck before kissing it as the clock struck midnight. Jonghyun hugged him tighter, and whispered goodbye as they both faded away before his eyes.
Jinki got up and turned off the TV. He shut his blinds and turned off the lights, then crawled into their shared bed and cried himself to sleep.
---
He didn’t talk to his family for a week. Taemin threw a fit and told him that their parents had been so scared. Jinki didn’t care, though. His conversation with his parents was short. He told them that he was gay and switching into the music composition major, and hung up. He didn’t hear from them again for another week, when they left a message on his machine about how they were sorry he felt like he’d been forced into a certain way of life.
The spring semester started, and Jinki wasn’t any happier. Sure, the music track was easier, and his vocals teacher loved him, but he didn’t care. His life was just a massive black hole of loneliness ever since New Year’s.
Two weeks into the spring semester, Jinki was eating alone in the dining hall when a pair of achingly familiar boys walked up to him.
“You’re Jinki, right?” the puppy-like one asked, sitting down. “This is my boyfriend, Minho. We had a strange dream about you.” Jinki blinked at them, trying to remember to keep his mouth closed and swallow before he suffocated.
“What Jonghyun meant,” Minho said, glaring at his apparent boyfriend, “was ‘hi.’”
The older boy couldn’t believe his eyes. There was no possible way… there couldn’t be. didn’t he wish these beautiful beings into existence last Christmas? He watched them fade away before his eyes 30 days, 11 hours and 25 minutes ago, if he remembered the time correctly. “you” he squeaked out, pointing a shaking finger at the shortest boy, and then turned wide eyed at Minho, “and you” they were laughing at him, but just what in the world “.. I don’t”
“Oh~” The puppy boy cooed, smiling brightly at him, “there’s my awkward butterfly, I knew you’d be just as cute in person”
“You’re an awkward butterfly” Jinki muttered, though he couldn’t fight the smile on his face. His life has suddenly become twice as beautify and bright. Things were finally looking up.